2052

1

It was another sunny day at public housing, and we were eating outside as we usually did in nice weather. We were under a tree, the sun shining and the wind blowing, making droplets fall from the leaves from the night before. I looked up, seeing the gorgeous green leaves, illuminated by the sun. I felt mostly at peace, but I was still bothered by one thing. I was missing my parents tremendously, even though I had just seen them two weeks ago.  Sure, there was a visiting day coming very soon, this sunday in fact, but I had a really hard week, and I very much missed my parents and their words of comfort. The only thing getting me through this pain was Joan. Me and her became fast friends after we were placed in the same room together. A good thing, too, because we are assigned to do everything with our roommate, like eating with them, along with other girls in the hall we live in. 

“Eden,  you okay?” Joan asked, concern in her voice.

“ yeah just  thinking about my parents again.”

“awwww”  Joan said, giving me a hug. Those kinds of things usually weren't allowed here, so Joan made sure it was a very quick one, evading the sight of the nuns around us. They didn't want us being too nice to each other, or too close, as that could mean the devil had entered us and made us gay. I had already seen two girls get escorted out of the premises,  one kicking and screaming, the other calm and collected. I still don't know exactly what they do with gay people, seeing as this whole situation is still pretty new, but im pretty sure they put them in jail for a good amount of time.

“Are you guys ready for knitting class?’’ Theresa asked, looking around worried that we would be seen hugging. This was Theresa's favorite class, but I didn't care for it much. I would much rather be reading, but I haven't been able to do that since I was moved to public housing. The conservative takeover  doesn't like girls reading since we have no use for it in stay at home motherhood. Apparently our only point in life is to produce babies, keep our husband happy, and clean the house. Sometimes I dream of how it was before the conservative takeover. I wonder how many choices girls had, and how it felt to walk out in the open holding a girl's hand. I bet it was scary but probably brought immense joy, like the kind that just bubbles up until you almost can't help but squeal in happiness. 

“Yeah I guess” I replied, bringing myself back to my dreary reality. “Right now i'm working on this project and it's so annoying. I can't figure out the cable knit stitch for the life of me and it's getting on my nerves.”

“Oo, i could help you!” Theresa said, that's her favorite stitch, and she loves opportunities to show off her skills. Honestly, I don't blame her though, with the little happiness there is in this life, you have to grab every little thing that makes you feel better, like compliments of how good you are at knitting.

“Ok.” I said, starting to drift back into my daydream of holding a girl's hand in public. I don't know why it's always a girl's hand, there's just something about how gentle and caring they are that draws me in. Maybe I just really like my friendships with women that I want to be as close to them as possible? I don't know, but I've never told anyone about this because I know how people are here, and seeing as how it would probably be taken the wrong way, I make sure to keep this secret to myself.

With that last little thought of my perfect daydream, the church bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I grabbed all my garbage, though, there was very little of it, seeing as how almost everything is reusable, and grabbed everything else and put everything in their correct areas, joan doing the same thing by my side. Then I grabbed my bag, and almost tripping over my long skirt, but catching myself at the last moment, me, Joan, and the rest of the girls all walked to knitting class, with a few giggles at my clumsiness.

Reaching class, I smelt the familiar scent of bananas that always seems to linger in this classroom. We all sat down at the long, cold, black tables, sitting across from our roommate. Joan had the most beautiful glint in her eyes, coming from the light outside, the door still open. Sadly, it was closed two seconds later, turning the once airy classroom stuffy and warm, and getting rid of the beautiful shine in joans eyes.